Monorail or like railway or tramway.



PATENTED SEPT. 6, 1904.

C. JOLY. MONORAIL 0R LIKE RAILWAY 0R TRAMWAY.

APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 6. 1903.

N0 MODEL.

( [/VVE/VTOR A/fumey UNITED STATES Patented September 6, 1904.

cELEsTE JOLY, or LoNnoN, ENGLAND.

IVIONORAIL OR LIKE RAILWAY OR TRAMWAY.

S'BEOIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 769,611, dated September 6, 1904. Application filed February 6, 1903. Serial No. 142.124. No model.)

To all 1117mm it may cormm-n:

Be it known that I, GnLnsTu JOLY, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing at London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in and Connected with Monorail or Like Railways or Tramways, of which the following is a specification, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention refers to monorail railways or tramways, and relates to improvements in method of propelling the vehicles and connecting same together and to the motor-engine and mode of connecting same.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a side elevation of a motorcar with my improvements, the body of the vehicle being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 2 shows a plan view of same. Fig. 3 shows an end elevation, the body of the vehicle being removed.

By the use of my improvements it will be possible to obtain high speed combined with cheapness of transport with a very light, portable, and consequently cheap line of rails.

It consists in the use of light motor-cars and motor road-vehicles, the driving-wheels of which run upon the ground for the traction of vehicles.

In ordinary railways or tramways the heavy engines which it is necessary to use in order to produce the adhesion necessary for the traction of the train require the use of heavy rails, and as the weight bearing upon a comparatively small surface is great the whole line has to be properly graded, ballasted, and constructed. The adhesion of a metal wheel upon a steel rail is twelve to twenty times smaller than that produced by a wheel provided with a metal tire running upon the surface of a broken-stone road or dry turf. A light motor-car or motor road-vehicle of any kind running upon the ground will produce as much adhesion as a heavy engine running upon rails, and it will therefore be capable of effecting the traction of the same weight upon the rail with the same quantity of energy.

As the single line of rails used with this peculiar method of traction by light and swift motor-cars has no heavy engine to support and as the weight upon each monorail-vehicle running upon the line of rails need not ex ceed a very few tons, it follows that a single line of light rails may be laid down on the ground upon suitable sleepers without it being necessary to prepare the track. The cost of the line may on account of this be limited to the cost of the metal rails and accessories.

\Vith this new system of traction by motor road-vehicles it becomes possible to lay down profitable railway-lines where the traflic is verysrnall, where a double-line railway would be too expensive, where the old and heavy Larmanjat monorail system could not be used owing to its slowness, requiring apaved road for the passage of the driving-wheels of the heavy steam-engine used, and where the light portable monorail for manual and animal traction was too slow.

This method of traction upon one rail is also designed for use on or in connection with mines, estates, transport of timber, and where cheapncss and speed are necessary. The light motor road-vehicles used serve both for the traction and for the balaneingof the vehicles upon the rail. The engine runs on one side of the vehicles and the line of rails. It may be connected by bars or levers to the vehicles, such bars or levers being fixed to either engine or vehicles and hooked to the other, so that the engine will possess a certain amount of free play. This portion of the invention may be termed an improvement upon the lateral tractionmonorail with manual or animal traction, many methods having been devised with unsatisfactory results, owing to the engine being placed upon the rail, which altered the cheapness and portability of the line.

The power used for the traction may be steam or any other agent as long as the engine preserves the lightness required. These light motor road-vehicles, which may be mounted on one or more driving-wheels, are so constructed and so connected with the rolling-stock that they are capable of automatically following the line of rails, and they may be provided with all the accessories used on ordinary motor-cars. Their weight is just suflicient for the production of the adhesion required for the traction of light weights not exceeding a few tons, and they are constructed for speeds varying from about ten miles per hour for goods to about forty miles for rapid passenger traffic.

The motor-car engine does not exceed two tons in weight complete for the traction of from ten to fifteen tons of goods or for one or two passenger cars and increasing the speed from about four miles, as in the old system, to over thirty miles an hour by my improvements. When the track is narrow and the roadway not hard enough, planks may be placed on each side of rails.

One of the numerous methods of connecting the motor-car engine it to the vehicle 5 is shown in Fig. 2. On one side of vehicle Z) a motorcar engine it of any description is shown attached by chains n to side frame m.

This improvement in lateral mechanical traction upon the old system of light monorails will be apparent, the wheels of the motor-car doing duty for the balancing-wheels in former systems without increasing weight or portability of the line.

l/Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a motor-car, a vehicle, a rail on which the vehicle travels, a frame connected to the vehicle and extending to one side thereof, a motor-car embraced by the frame and flexible couplings connecting the frame and motorcar.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

CELESTE J OLY. l/Vitnesses:

ROBERT PITMAN, WILMER M. HARRIS. 

